Ill and feeling alone

 

Shalom and thank you for turning to us. It is painful to hear about your suffering. There is no ‘good’ answer for why bad things happen – and often to good people. I am very sorry to hear about your difficulties and offer you my full sympathy. When i say no ‘good’ answer, I mean an answer that will satisfy the requirements of human logic – which is the only logic we have to work with.

 

To access a different kind of logic – G-dly logic – we have to turn things around and look at them from an entirely different angle, so I will share some true stories with you. One story is from a book by the author Mr. Oded Mizrahi that recounts journeys of Jewish people who were searching for meaning, not always consciously, and ended up adopting an orthodox Jewish lifestyle. One such person was a young man traveling in the far east. This young man was actually not lacking the usual things that people yearn for. He had family and health, thank G-d, as well as enough money to travel while he was young. Nevertheless he felt rather empty inside, so here he was, wandering the streets of a town in India and feeling rather sad that he had not yet found whatever it was he thought he needed to find. Stopping to give a coin to a beggar, he noticed something that was going to change his life. The beggar’s child was lying in a box, he had been brought up in the box so that he would grow up as a hunchback. This is a method practiced sometimes in underdeveloped countries or areas, for increasing revenue from begging. The child was smiling. The child truly seemed happy. The young man suddenly realized that happiness is not just about physical life…

 

Another story is about a young Chabad Rabbi in LA who is one a group of people who suffer from a terrible degenerative disorder called ALS. He has lost the ability to move any of his limbs except for his eyelids. There exists an incredibly sensitive computer program thank G-d, which registers the movements of Rabbi Yitzi Hurwitz’s eyelids (or other ALS sufferers) and in this way he is able to communicate with the world. Rabbi Hurwitz continues to reach out spiritually to others by writing Torah columns using the program.

 

All this not to say that since others have very difficult and challenging situations, YOUR situation isn’t so significant. Absolutely not. It is to say that we need to ask ourselves what we are here for. The sages teach us (Midrash Tanchuma on Torah portion of Bexhukotai sec.3) that “G-d desired a dwelling place in the lower worlds,” and that is the purpose of Creation.  What does this mean? Firstly- the lower worlds – the lowest being the one WE know,  are not really low. Actually they are the highest, because as mentioned above,  they are the purpose of creation. When we utilize the material world to fulfill spiritual aims, we elevate the physical and reveal its inner spirit potential,  because everything is really part of G-d.

 

When we endeavor to survive our challenges and pull ourselves a little bit beyond them, EVERY SMALL EFFORT is elevating the WHOLE WORLD and bringing it closer to the time when “the spirit of impurity shall be removed from the earth.” You have a part in this. When you give a smile or any positive feedback to anyone you deal with, be it a nurse or doctor or anyone else, YOU are making the world a better place. When you light the Sabbath candles or keep anothe mitzvah, you are also making the world a better place. Even giving a small coin to charity helps us get closer to the goal.This is what G-d wants, and it is not about abandonment, it is about fulfilling our missions.

 

On a practical level, keep updated,  perhaps there will be some new medical breakthrough that can help you. It will never be too late for improvement.

We wish you improved health, may it only get better!!